LONG BEACH — As dozens of officials gathered beneath the Gerald Desmond Bridge on Tuesday, Port of Long Beach Executive Director Christopher Lytle pointed to the two police helicopters thundering overhead.

They hovered 500 feet off the ground, high above the span, demonstrating to the audience how much taller the new cable-stayed span replacing the Gerald Desmond will be when it is completed in 2016.

"This will be an iconic structure," he said, asking people to imagine viewing Catalina Island from the future bridge's observation platform 200 feet high. "The new bridge will have clearance to handle the newest generation of bigger ships, helping us keep our competitive edge as a port."

Federal, state, city and port officials celebrated the groundbreaking Tuesday of a $1 billion project to replace the aging Gerald Desmond Bridge, considered the biggest bridge project in Southern California.

Built in 1968, the Gerald Desmond Bridge links Terminal Island and the Long Beach (710) Freeway for the nation's trade system, with nearly 15 percent of the nation's waterborne cargo traveling on it.

But the bridge has been slowly deteriorating as traffic volumes have risen over the years. Netting, which port officials call "diapers," had to be attached to the bridge to catch falling concrete.

When completed, the new bridge will feature additional traffic lanes, separate bicycle paths and pedestrian walkways.

At Tuesday's groundbreaking, several people spoke about the importance of building the bridge, which is being funded with state, county, port and federal funding.

"As you look at today's economy and the fact that we are recovering, we want to keep that economy moving," said Victor Mendez of the Federal Highway Administration. "This is a very major investment when it comes to getting our economy back in shape."

He also lauded the port's method of building the bridge with a "design-build" concept, which combines project design and construction into one contract.

"What you're doing from an innovation standpoint is very, very important when it comes to our nation," Mendez said. "We can no longer be able to take 10 years to build a project. We have to do it faster, and in today's economy and today's world, we have to find innovative and creative ways of doing that."

Rep. Janice Hahn, D-San Pedro, who was recently appointed to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said she will advocate for projects such as the bridge replacement project.

"It's projects like this that I will continue to champion and try to find the funding to move us forward," she said. "We need to be doing more of this."

Meanwhile, there has been talk of giving the new bridge a different name, with an effort afoot to name it after former Long Beach Mayor Beverly O'Neill.

The Desmond family has publicly expressed interest in keeping the name. Desmond was a Long Beach City Council member from 1954 to 1960 and then served as city attorney from 1960 to 1964 until his death from liver cancer at the age of 48.

If the new bridge is renamed, it will likely be up to the state, which is contributing the most funding to the project with $500 million, port officials said.

That does not preclude them from naming it after a notable local person. The state-owned courthouse being built in downtown Long Beach is named after former Gov. George Deukmejian.